The Wayward Dunmer
by RavenOfFrost
Summary: When a Dunmer arrives to the harsh and beautiful Skyrim, he stays for there is much more here than there was in Morrowind, but when a unavoidable change occurs, he finds out that it is not all that beautiful. (He is not the Dragonborn and takes place after Fate Decides, but it is its own story.)
1. Prologue

The breeze was blowing icy cold air as a water-drentched Dunmer crawled on to the shore by Windhelm, and laid on the shore as his body was shivering by the ice-cold water and the breeze with his boots being lapped by the cold water. He just survived a shipwreck that was headed for Skyrim from Morrowind and all he had was a dark-green tunic that was torn and thin. Ryvren forced himself to his feet, knowing that he would freeze out in the harsh winter, but fell back to the ground in weakness as his muscles were screaming in rebellion.

_How could I die here after that wreck?_ He thought tiredly as his weak crimson eyes were trying to stay open as his shoulder-length black hair was blowing and his body was beginning to freeze. He tried to push himself off the ground, but the coldness of the water and wind bested him. "I accept my fate," he whispered as his eyes could no longer stay open and each limb in his body was too weak to move. His crimson eyes closed as the lapping of the waves and the howling of the wind grew distant, then sleep quickly befell over him.

* * *

"How he survived the journey to Whiterun, I'll never know," a woman's voice entered his head.

"The priestess of Arkay doubted that he would live the journey," a man with a thick accent spoke. "I tried to keep him warm and alive on the way, but I knew he needed medical help."

"He's lucky that someone found him and that his body didn't shut down. He should be fine after all the healing I did for him and with Kynareth's blessings. Thank you again."

"You're welcome." Then the sounded of steps began to fade.

Ryvren slowly opened his eyes to a peaceful room and a priestess standing beside him. "Where am I?" He muttered as he tried to sit up.

"Don't." The priestess placed a hand on his shoulder. "You had severe hypothermia. You're lucky that someone found you."

He laid back down and looked at her. "Who are you?"

She smiled kindly. "You're in the temple of Kynareth in Whiterun, my child, and I am priestess Danica Pure-Spring."

"How did I get here?"

"A guard from Windhelm brought you down here. He told me the priestess of Arkay was preparing your burial if you didn't get the treatment you needed. Why were you on the shore anyway?"

He looked up at the ceiling, remembering the ship wrecking. "I was on a ship from Morrowind and there was a storm. Then I woke up on the shore. I knew it was Skyrim where I landed by the weather," he chuckled. "That's all I remember." He then shook his head and sat up. "I can't stay here." When he stood up, his legs were weak, making him about to lose his balance, but the priestess held him, until he steadied himself. "Thank you for saving me." He looked at her gratefully.

"Here." She took out a bag of coin from from her pouch and offered it to him. "Take it."

The Dunmer looked at her. "No. I can't. After everything you-"

"You need this more than I do, my child."

Ryvren graciously accepted. "Thank you. For everything."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

With that, the Dunmer walked out of the peaceful temple with water in the middle of the room as two people were laying on separate beds, cringing and groaning in pain. The sun was high when he walked out to the town of Whiterun. Kids ran past him, laughing and people seemed happy here. He then looked at his torn clothes and boots, knowing that he needed new ones. He then began to walk around the city to a blacksmith and bought a simple iron sword, then to the market place to buy a red tunic with boots. After changed in a room at the inn and disposing of his old clothes, he continued to walk around city, until he came across a oval-shaped building with a roof that looked like an over turned boat.

"That's Jorrvaskr," a guard stood next to him and explained. "Home of the Companions."

"The Companions?"

"They are a group that fight to protect and loyal to the war hero Ysgramor. They only let in certain people."

Ryvren smirked amusingly at that. "Since I've got nothing better to do, might as well check it out." He then walked up the stairs, opened the front and walked in. There he found a bunch of different people talking and laughing.

"What do you want?" A harsh voice with thick Nordic accent asked as a man with chin-length brown hair, pale-blue eyes that had dark warpaint around them, and a rough bread. He was dressed in heavy armor that Ryvren had never seen before with a longsword on his back.

"I wish to join the Companions," he answered strongly.

The Nord sighed. "Fine. Follow me." He led the dark elf to a Nord woman with long blond hair tied in a braid, blue eyes, dressed in hide armor, talking to a redheaded woman with three slashes of dark-green war paint across her face. "Harbinger, this elf wishes to join the Companions. What do you make of him?"

The blond woman stood up and studied the elf.

Ryvren was confused. This was the leader? A Nord woman? He was expecting a strong Nordic man, not a blond woman.

"There is something about him that I like," the woman said as she crossed her arms and looked at him in a pondering way. "Test him."

"Keira," the man said. "You can't be-"

"Vilkas, please. Remember last time a newcomer came?" She smiled that the Nord.

Vilkas sighed heavily. "Yes, and she became Harbinger. Let's go, newcomer." With that, the Nord lead him to the back with many questions brewing the elf's head, but all the same, he may become a Companion.


	2. Chapter 1

Four days had past since Ryvren became a new member of the Companions and was dressed in new leather armor with his sword at his hip and black warpaint that started in the middle of his forehead, went down to his eyes to his jaw line, then with a small, fine line that was going down from the corners of his mouth. He met Torvar and Athis for the first time- who just got back from a job in Solitude- he was taken aback to see another Dunmer and so was the redheaded dark elf. "So you're the new member I was told about," the Companion said as he approached the newcomer. "I never would've guessed that you would be a Dunmer."

Ryvren smirked. "I thought I was the only one here. Glad to see that I'm not. The name's Ryvren." He didn't have the thick Dunmer accent, instead it was smoother and his voice was not as deep.

"Athis," a woman's voice said as she walked up to him with a smile and hugged him. "I'm glad you're back."

The redheaded elf held her tight. "So am I."

The newcomer just stood there, confused. They seemed to be a couple, but she was a Nord and he was Dunmer. How did that happen?

Then Ria walked up to them, making them break apart. "I'd hate to break this love-fest, but we have an animal on the loose in a house in Riverwood."

Keria thought about it, then looked at Ryvren. "Do you want to go? This may be a good opportunity for you."

The elf gave a shrug. "Sure. I'll go."

"Good. You should head out now since we've just got the message."

He gave a curt nod of the head. "Will do." With that, he headed down stairs to the sleeping quarters andgrabbed his map and shoved it in his pouch, then left for the town.

* * *

It was noon when Ryvren walked down to the stables to find the mysterious black horse with red eyes. Who did that horse even belong to? Every time he walked out of the city, he'd always find the creature and could never take his eyes off it. He never seen a horse with glowing red eyes before. For some reason, it gave him a grave feeling each time he'd see it, but carried on south.

It was a beautiful walk to the small town, besides running into a couple of wolves, it was overall peaceful. Riverwood was a quiet town with a couple of kids running around with a dog, then found out that there was a wolf in Faendal the wood elf's, home. After having it taken care of, the Companion simply walked back to Whiterun, but along the way, he ran into a Nord dressed in steel armor.

"You don't belong here, greyskin," he spat.

The elf stopped in his tracks at those words. "You shouldn't talk that way," he said calmly as he turned to the man and looked at him in his green eyes. "There is no reason for it."

"There is since your people took over the true home of Skyrim with your filth!" He unsheathed his sword and came at him.

Ryvren quickly unsheathed his own sword and blocked the oncoming blade.

The Nord became angrier and began to fight like a true warrior of Skyrim.

The Dunmer kept blocking each slash he could get, until he ran him through the gut, making blood run down from his mouth. He ripped the sword out, dropping the dead man to the ground.

Ryvren began to breathe heavily at the sight of the dead Nord. He just killed a man that did not have to die, even though it was his life or the Nord's he knew it could've somehow ended differently. It was the first time that he took a life. He then whipped his blade off on the body, then sheathed it, then continued his way back to Whiterun, knowing that it won't be his last time to kill.

* * *

When Ryvren returned to Jorrvaskr, Keria greeted him with a smile. "Glad to see you, Shield-Brother. How was it?"

"Good. Just a wolf in a house. It's all taken care of." _Not to mention an angry Nord that I killed on the way back,_ he thought bitterly.

"Good to hear." He held out a pouch of gold. "Your pay."

"Thanks." He took the pouch and placed it into his own at his hip.

"Keira," Athis called as he walked up to her. "Ready to go?"

The blond woman smiled at him. "Yeah." She then looked at the rest of the hall. "See you all tomorrow."

"Bye, you two," the others called.

Then the two of them walked out of the hall.

The elf raised an eyebrow. "Where are they going?" For the last couple days, everything seemed normal, until the Dunmer appeared. They way they were together, only a couple would be like that, and that was an odd couple. He heard of male Nords and female elves, but a male Dunmer and female Nord? That was odd.

"They're married," Ria answered as she stood beside him a smile.

"Married?" He looked at her with surprised. So they were more than just a couple, they were together till the end.

"Yes. We were all stunned when we heard about the wedding, but they certainly do love each other. They live in a house called Breezehome here in Whiterun." She said with a smile.

Ryvren looked back at the door that the couple walked out of. How did they end up together? Clearly the elf was very persistent to get a woman like Keira. Oh, well. It was none of his business anyway. He then walked out of the hall to the training grounds and sat in a chair, deep in thought. There was something inside him that felt different as if it was stained. He then smirked as he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. It was his first time that he took a life in all his days. In the beginning, he felt guilty, but now it was as if it didn't matter. He just hoped there would be a better reason if he did have to do it again.


	3. Chapter 2

A couple of days after becoming a Companion, Ryvren was now sent to Dawnstar for some troll problem. The walk was long and cold. Even running into some unfreindly animals and spiders, but that didn't get in his way, until he ran into a Khajiit on the side of the road with his dagger drawn.

"Give me every thing you have," the cat person hissed.

Ryvren stopped and smirked at the thief who was dressed in dwarven armor. "I suggest you walk away. Right now."

"Until you give this one your valubles," he growled with his green eyes glinting in the sunlight.

"Sorry." He was about to walk, but the theif ran to him. Just as he was about to slash at him, the Dunmer unsheethed his iron sword and ran him through, then whispered in his ear, "I suggest be careful who you try to steal from." Then tore the sword out and the Khajiit fell dead.

Ryvren smirked as he sheethed his sword and carried on his way. He could feel his blood quickly becoming cold since his first encounter.

* * *

His leather armor wasn't enough for the cold and the snow. The Dunmer knew he did not belong in the cold hoped that there was going to be an inn or something there for him to rest at, but first thing was the job.

When he got to the capital, he was not surprised to see a small village for where it was located. He walked up to a gaurd and told him that he was sent to take care of a troll.

The guard nodded. "I've heard there was one over that hill." He pointed to a hill behind some houses on his left.

"Thanks," he muttered as he began to walk back into the snow. He carried on walking, hoping that he was going the right way as his shoulder-legnth black hair was blowing in his crimson eyes that were glowing behind the black warpaint. Then there was a growl that he never heard before in his life and and it seemed coming from his right. The Dunmer crouched and quietly made his way to the sound outil there was a edge over looking the grey sea and a growl was heard below him. The troll was right underneath him. He took a deep breath, slowly unsheethed his sword, then jumped down, startling the frost troll.

"Show me what you've got, beast," he muttered.

The troll roared, then came bounding at him, revealing bloody bones in the alcove of a cave, and they certainly were not anaimal with a human skull beside them.

The Dunmer was waiting for the beast to get close enough, then he started slashig at him, but the troll was getting annoyed and swinged his heavy arms, letting the elf swiftly jump aside, until he came with another swing, knocking the elf off his feet.

Ryvren fell back and felt an ache on his chest. He looked down and found two large gashes on the chest of his leather armor. "Damn," he whispered. He jumped to his feet, but hissed in pain as his right leg was stiff and right when the beast was about to swat at him, he stabbed his arm.

The troll roared in pain, then knocked the elf away with the sword still in his arm.

As the elf staggered to his feet, the troll tore his sword out and threw it away. Then his crimson eyes grew wide as she the troll came towards him. He then took a deep breath and summoned his Ancestral Wrath, cloaking him with fire and began to burn the troll, who growled in pain and tried to fight back, but was getting weaker and weaker, then eventually fell. The fire began to slowly disappear, leaving Ryvren weak from the power and from the thrashing the troll gave him. He staggered to pick of his sword, sheathed it, and began to walk to the city, but the bitter cold was too harsh in his condition. His leather armor was torn and his body was aching. "Why did I leave Morrowind?" He muttered to himself as his stringy shoulder-legnth black hair was falling into his crimson eyes. "Why didn't I go back when I had the chance?" She then smirked to himself. "You had no chance. You were nearly dead when you got here," he growled. His sore leg then went stiff, making him fall. He hit the snow and clenched his teeth, fighting the pain. "What kind of Companion am I?" He hissed as he tried to stand. "A damn good one," he growled as he began to limp. "I'm going to freeze out here." He carried on limping then noticed a wooden hatch hidden by a rock. "Please be safe," he muttered as he opened it, then climbed down the ladder and closed the hatch.

When he landed, he hissed in pain, then looked around as a red glow was around the tiny alcove. Then he turned around and looked in awe as he laid his eyes upon a red stain-glass circular window with a grotesque skull in the middle. "Where am I?" He whispered to himself. He then noticed movement on the other side and heard faint voices and... Was that singing? He slowly crept forward, but then the figures looked in his direction, making his eyes grow wide. The Dunmer was about to leave, but his body was in agony, and the sound of something large moving made him some and turn.

Ryvren found himself looking into four pairs off eyes, then was quickly grabbed by the arms of a Dunmer woman and an Argonian man who were both wearing black and red armor, but the lizard looked to be a mage. They dragged him out and the woman removed his sword as the mage kicked him in the back on the knee, making him cringe.

"Who are you?" A deep voice of a Redgaurd asked.

"I didn't mean to intrude," Ryvren replied coldly, fighting the pain.

"I'll ask again." He unsheathed a large, curved sword. "Who are you?"

"Ryvren," he hissed, glaring in his dark eyes.

"Ooo," a high-pitched voice spoke. "We have a trespasser?" A short man dressed in a crimson jester outfit came down the stoned stairs with a smile on his face. "He could be a lovely addition to the torture chamber!" He sang as he danced joyously.

"I will _not_ be your prisoner!" Ryvren snarled as he fought to get out of their grip, but was stiff and just cringed in pain. He knew that he was fighting a losing battle that may end up costing him his life.

The Redgaurd sheathed his weapon. "Get him out of here. We'll wait for the Listener to arrive. In the meantime, keep him locked up."

Ryvren knew that there was no hope in fighting back in his condition, he just went with them and would wait till this 'Listener' arrives.


	4. Chapter 3

As the other three torture victims were moaning in pain, Ryvren never felt such a failure in a very long time. He would just hang his head, thinking of what to do, but he knew that there was nothing in his power to get out of this sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood. He was told five days had past and that the Listener was on her way and his fate was in her hands. He wouldn't care. He never feared death. He also heard rumors about the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim while he was in Morrowind, but never really paid any attention, now he just walked right into their territory. He would just roll his eyes as he would hear the jester, who was named Cicero, getting on the Redgaurd, Nazir's, nerves and the others would just laugh. "Just kill me already," he muttered as he just hung his head with his crimson eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Listener!" The jester then cried happily.

Ryvren took a deep sigh. He no longer had to wait. His fate was near.

He then heard footsteps as near as the other prisoners just hung their heads and he kept his low.

Then the woman in a black and red armor stood in front of him. "Who are you?" Her voice was stern. The Listener was a woman?

He said nothing.

"Look at me, prisoner. I may just spare your life."

The Dunmer raised his head and his saw her blue eyes grow wide, the only thing he could see between the black hood and red cowl. "Just kill me, wretch," he growled.

"Ryvren?" She whispered.

The elf's eyes grew wide and mouth dropped open. "Keira?"

The Listener uncovered her face and smirked at him shyly with her long blond hair down with the front pulled back. "Hello, Ryvren."

"No," he whispered. "It can't be. You're the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood?" Confusion was flowing through his brain. He would never had thought that the Harbinger of the Companions was the leader of a group of assassins. He didn't even think anyone else knew.

The Nord woman nodded. "Yes, and please don't tell anyone at Jorrvaskr." Her eyes were desperate.

"You're going to spare me?" He arched an eyebrow. She wasn't the Harbinger here, but the Listener. A killer.

Keira nodded and crossed her arms with a smirk. "You think I'd kill my own Sheild-Brother?"

"I know too much now." He just looked her in the eyes. What a double life she's been living and no one even knew it. She had to keep up the act and he knew that he still may have to die for it.

The Listner chuckled. "That's why I'm going to make you part of the Brotherhood, since you know too much."

His eyes snapped open. "What?"

"If you can kill, that is." She looked at him in a studying way. She was leader of a assassins in this place, not warriors.

The other prisoners turned to him with fear in their wide eyes.

Ryvren remembered the racist Nord and the thief, making him smirk. "Oh, yes, I can."

Keira smiled in approval, walked to the mantel on the fireplace and took a key, then walked over to him and began to unlock his shackles.

The Dunmer fell to his hands and knees, but slowly staggered up, not used to walking for five days and was weak.

The Listener went to a large chest besides the fireplace and took out his armor, but looked at it with uncertainty, then looked at him as he was stretching and saw the large bruise on his chest. "What happened to you?"

He looked at her. "I went hunting for that troll you sent me for, then I found the wooden hatch because I knew that I wouldn't make it to the capital in that condition." He smirked. "Then your friends threw me in here."

The strong Nord woman nodded. "I'll have Babette look at your wounds. She's the alchemist and I'll get you some new armor." She then smirked. "_Our_ armor."

He blinked. "Am I part of the Brotherhood?"

Keira smirked as she walked up to him. "Not yet. I'll have Nazir send you on a contract first. Wait here." She then walked out of the torture room.

the confused Dunmer just took a deep breath as he looked around the stoned room with the blazing fireplace and the other prisoners just looking at him in fear. He said nothing as he turned away from them. He never liked killing, but after running into the his first two victims, he knew that he was able to it. He smirked as he looked into the roaring fire. There was going to be fear to his name.

The the door opened, making him turn around to find Kiera with black and red armor in her arms, walked up to him, and handed it to him. "Put this on. I'll meet you outside." She then walked out and closed the wooden door.

After getting dressed, the Dunmer walked out the chamber and found Keira smiling at him and followed her out to a large stoned room where a Redgaurd was sitting at a table in the middle with a female Dunmer dressed in the black and red armor. "Nazir," she said, making the two of them look at her, then to the former prisoner, then back to her. "We have a new recruit. His name is Ryvren and is from the Companions in Whiterun."

Nazir's dark eyes grew wide. "Really? He's a Companion?"

"Yes, and a friend of mine as well as a Shield-Brother."

He chuckled with amusement as he turned to him. "Well, well. That's a coincidence. I'm Nazir and I'm also the one who hands out contracts. If I have known that you were friends with our beloved Listener, I would not have treated the way I did, so you have my apologies."

"Um, thanks," he muttered, uncertain of what to say after the way he was treated. They were five days that he was never going to get back.

His friend then turned to him with amusement. "Also, what weapons to have beside a sword?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

She slowly nodded. "That's what I thought." She then pointed to section of the sanctuary on the right. "Go see Aldryra, a dark elf. She'll set you up. I'm sorry I didn't do that in Jorrvaskr."

Ryvren just nodded with a smile. "It's fine. Thanks." He then walked down to the path she pointed to and turned to a hall and looked in each room for a Dunmer. When he came to the armory room, he found a dark elf woman training, making him knock on the door so he wouldn't startle her. She turned around and smiled at him. She had the narrow face, short black hair and crimson eyes with a smile upon her thin lips. "So, you're the prisoner. I see you're part of us."

She was pretty little thing, making him smirk. "Keira will tell you everything. I need weapons to help me on my kills. I only have a sword."

She crossed her arms. "I'm Aldryra and its nice to see another Dunmer in this place. Do you know how to use a bow?"

He chuckled. "Of course and I'm Ryvren, by the way."

The Dunmer woman smiled. "Come here, I'll you all set up." She walked over to a table that had bows and arrows laying on it.

After setting him up with his gear, Ryvren thanked her and gave her a final smile, knowing that he was going to look forward of seeing the elf again. He walked out to meet Keira, but when he heard that high-pitched voice, he frowned, knowing where it came from. Just by hearing that voice, he knew that he was not going to get along with that jester. When he turned the corner, he spotted the little man dressed in the crimson jester outfit with hat, beaming at the Listener as the Redguard just rolled his eyes. He knew that this character was not going to be easy.


	5. Chapter 4

About a day past when Ryvren, dressed in his new ebony armor and usual warpaint, walked into Jorrvaskr of Whiterun, Keira approached him with a smile, dressed in her usual hide armor. "Welcome, back brother. I heard you did well with your job." She winked at him, indicating the contract and maybe the troll in Dawnstar.

He smirked, following along. "Yes, I did."

She then pulled out a pouch of gold from her own pouch and handed it to him. "400 gold for the troll."

The Dunmer smirked at the sight. "I like this job." He placed it in his own pouch on his hip and slowly looked around. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

The Harbinger thought about it as she looked down, then looked back at him. "Ask Vilkas or Alea. They might have something for you."

The redheaded dark elf then walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be back soon."

The Nord looked at him lovingly. "Be safe."

Athis gave her a thin smile. "I promise." He then kissed her lips then her forehead. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Bye," she said softly.

"Bye, love." He kissed her head a final time, then walked out to the back.

Ryvren looked at the Nord in wonder as she just watched her husband go with concern. "How did a woman like you end up with a Dunmer? And I'm a Dunmer."

Keira laughed at that and looked at him with a smile. "It's a long story."

"Hey, by the looks of it, it's just you and me and we've got plenty of time." He smiled kindly at her as they were the only ones inside at the very moment. He never heard such a thing in Morrowind and she was a strong Nord and Dunmer's, well, Nords don't really like them and he heard about the Stormcloaks.

"Athis is going to a bandit camp for a rescue and I worry about him. But how I ended up with him was different." She looked away as her blue eyes faded to memory. "A year ago, I was married to another man. Farkas, Vilkas's twin brother, and I loved him, and he loved me."

He wanted her skip the mushy stuff, but knew that it was important, so he listened, especially when he saw her face darken. He never even knew that Vilkas, a man as serious as him, had a brother.

"He died," she continued with heartache in her voice and closed her eyes. "Bandits killed him. We were only married for six months."

The elf felt his heart sink at those words. He hated to hear of a widow losing their husbands so soon.

"I couldn't bare it," she continued as her voice dropped. "I wanted to leave Whiterun and never come back, but Athis admitted his love for me ever since I arrived in Jorrvaskr. I was at such a low point and I never wanted to fall in love again and half of me was scared of losing another husband or lover. So, I got on Shadowmere and left." She then smirked as she raised her head. "But he followed me and didn't stop until he fought up with me on horseback and he proposed, afraid to lose me."

"And you said yes." He looked at her with wonder. So shorty after the seat hot her husband, she married another man? That's crazy. "Did you even love him?"

Keira looked at him. "That's what I was afraid of, but that's the thing, I fell in love. I still love Farkas and he knows it, but I moved on and Athis is the most important thing in my life right now."

"And he knows that you're the List-"

"No," she quickly cut him off and looked at him with stern eyes. "No one does. In Dawnstar, you and I are assassins. Here, we are Companions and it will stay like that." She looked and muttered, "Even though it got Farkas killed."

"What?" His eyes grew wide.

She looked at him in annoyance. "I never told Farkas and I kept disappearing so he followed me and I was with my Spectral Assassin we were attacked by bandits. He died in my arms and I told him the truth."

He wanted to ask her about the assassin she mentioned, but knew that it wasn't the time. The memory was too much right now, so he left it that and said, "I'm sorry."

The Harbinger shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Ryvren then looked at her in her eyes. "But you have to tell him. I never been married, but I know that you tell your spouses what you are. It's called trust. If he really loves you, then he'll stay. You have to tell him." He may keep to himself at times, but when he came to relationships, he wanted his woman to trust and visa versa.

Keira heavily sighed as she looked away. "I know, but not now. I'll tell him when the time comes."

He just slowly nodded his head in understanding, then slightly tilted his head. "Why are you called 'The Listener'? I only know so little of the Night Mother and Sithis."

The secret assassin smiled at him. "You know the Night Mother?Well, she may be dead, but she only communicates to the Listener mentally and that's where I came in."

The Dunmer blinked. "What?" Never before as he heard such a ridiculous thing. Corpse that mentally communicates? Yeah right.

She chuckled. "It's a true honor. The Dark Brotherhood has been waiting for that moment for years and poor Cicero, it nearly drove him crazy. Well, he is crazy." Humor was in her blue eyes as she looked away in memory.

Cicero. Even that name nearly drive him insane. He was never fond of bards or jokers. Especially jesters. "What is Cicero's story anyway?"

Keira looked at him sadly. "He has a long and dark history of being alone. He wasn't always that crazy, but it grew worse over the years. I never met him while he was sane." She then smiled. "but don't be fooled. He's craftier than he looks." She then walked past him with knowing glint in her eye, and walked out of Jorrvaskr, leaving the elf pondering about her words.

* * *

Sleeping in the beds of Jorrvaskr, Ryvren kept having dreams of the Brotherhood and the assassination of his first contract. He kept hearing news about Mikael and the Brotherhood and he would just play along, but only Keira knew the truth. He wanted the thrill of it. He wanted to replay that moment again and again. He wanted the power. The restless elf got up, threw on his brown tunic, strapped his sword to his hip, then snuck out of the sleeping quarters, out of Jorrvaskr, and began to head for the gates, but walked into the Nord woman, who was standing in front of what he guessed was Breezehome. "Where are you going?" She asked, dressed in a yellow dress.

"Since when are you my mother?" He questioned sourly, trying to walk past her.

"I know assassins, Ryvren," the woman said strongly and had a hint of concern in her voice, making him turn to her. "You want more blood."

The Dunmer felt his heart pound at those words as the thrill entered his head. He just looked at her, not knowing what to say. She may be the Listener, but she was also the Harbinger, a person of wisdom.

Kiera sighed, relaxing. "At least you don't have your warpaint and armor on."

"There's no reason to have it at this night," he replied.

"Ryvren, we may be assassins, but we have honor. We don't just going around and killing people. We have contracts."

"I wasn't going to kill anyone." It was the truth. He just wanted to walk around the city, getting his mind off things. The elf then looked at her. "Why did you get me the armor anyway? I could take care of myself."

"I know. But I also knew that you didn't have any money and that your other armor was technically useless in the snow after the troll tore at it."

"Thanks," he just muttered, looking at her, patience wearing thin.

The woman then gave small nods as she looked down and back to him. "Just take care of yourself, Ryvren." She then backed away into her house. "Good-night."

"Night," he said as she disappeared inside and closed the door and the elf carried on his way as the green and blue lights were shining above him. When he got outside the city gates, he just walked past the stables and turned right. Memories of Morrowind was in his mind as he would just walk. The Dunmer, villages, netchs, and everything else was making him homesick. He had no reason to stay in Skyrim after the wreck, but he had a little bigger reason of returning, He had a woman in Morrowind, but it wasn't working out so well. She wanted more than just a trader. She wanted a stronger man like a guard or in the Fighter's Guild or something. He was on the ship for Skyrim for a trade, but it ultimately wrecked in a storm not far from the coast. She probably even thought that he was dead. He smirked at the thought. At least people didn't expect him to return. Skyrim was his new home. Morrowind was a mere memory of what could be. He then smiled as he looked at the ground. "The trader is dead, but you are reborn," he told himself as a surge of power came over him. He was no long the pathetic trader who ran his little shop. He was now a warrior and assassin who served Sithis.


	6. Chapter 5

About a day past when Ryvren, dressed in his new ebony armor and usual warpaint, walked into Jorrvaskr of Whiterun, Keira approached him with a smile, dressed in her usual hide armor. "Welcome, back brother. I heard you did well with your job." She winked at him, indicating the contract and maybe the troll in Dawnstar.

He smirked, following along. "Yes, I did."

She then pulled out a pouch of gold from her own pouch and handed it to him. "400 gold for the troll."

The Dunmer smirked at the sight. "I like this job." He placed it in his own pouch on his hip and slowly looked around. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

The Harbinger thought about it as she looked down, then looked back at him. "Ask Vilkas or Alea. They might have something for you."

The redheaded dark elf then walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be back soon."

The Nord looked at him lovingly. "Be safe."

Athis gave her a thin smile. "I promise." He then kissed her lips then her forehead. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Bye," she said softly.

"Bye, love." He kissed her head a final time, then walked out to the back.

Ryvren looked at the Nord in wonder as she just watched her husband go with concern. "How did a woman like you end up with a Dunmer? And I'm a Dunmer."

Keira laughed at that and looked at him with a smile. "It's a long story."

"Hey, by the looks of it, it's just you and me and we've got plenty of time." He smiled kindly at her as they were the only ones inside at the very moment. He never heard such a thing in Morrowind and she was a strong Nord and Dunmer's, well, Nords don't really like them and he heard about the Stormcloaks.

"Athis is going to a bandit camp for a rescue and I worry about him. But how I ended up with him was different." She looked away as her blue eyes faded to memory. "A year ago, I was married to another man. Farkas, Vilkas's twin brother, and I loved him, and he loved me."

He wanted her skip the mushy stuff, but knew that it was important, so he listened, especially when he saw her face darken. He never even knew that Vilkas, a man as serious as him, had a brother.

"He died," she continued with heartache in her voice and closed her eyes. "Bandits killed him. We were only married for six months."

The elf felt his heart sink at those words. He hated to hear of a widow losing their husbands so soon.

"I couldn't bare it," she continued as her voice dropped. "I wanted to leave Whiterun and never come back, but Athis admitted his love for me ever since I arrived in Jorrvaskr. I was at such a low point and I never wanted to fall in love again and half of me was scared of losing another husband or lover. So, I got on Shadowmere and left." She then smirked as she raised her head. "But he followed me and didn't stop until he fought up with me on horseback and he proposed, afraid to lose me."

"And you said yes." He looked at her with wonder. So shorty after the seat hot her husband, she married another man? That's crazy. "Did you even love him?"

Keira looked at him. "That's what I was afraid of, but that's the thing, I fell in love. I still love Farkas and he knows it, but I moved on and Athis is the most important thing in my life right now."

"And he knows that you're the List-"

"No," she quickly cut him off and looked at him with stern eyes. "No one does. In Dawnstar, you and I are assassins. Here, we are Companions and it will stay like that." She looked and muttered, "Even though it got Farkas killed."

"What?" His eyes grew wide.

She looked at him in annoyance. "I never told Farkas and I kept disappearing so he followed me and I was with my Spectral Assassin we were attacked by bandits. He died in my arms and I told him the truth."

He wanted to ask her about the assassin she mentioned, but knew that it wasn't the time. The memory was too much right now, so he left it that and said, "I'm sorry."

The Harbinger shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Ryvren then looked at her in her eyes. "But you have to tell him. I never been married, but I know that you tell your spouses what you are. It's called trust. If he really loves you, then he'll stay. You have to tell him." He may keep to himself at times, but when he came to relationships, he wanted his woman to trust and visa versa.

Keira heavily sighed as she looked away. "I know, but not now. I'll tell him when the time comes."

He just slowly nodded his head in understanding, then slightly tilted his head. "Why are you called 'The Listener'? I only know so little of the Night Mother and Sithis."

The secret assassin smiled at him. "You know the Night Mother?Well, she may be dead, but she only communicates to the Listener mentally and that's where I came in."

The Dunmer blinked. "What?" Never before as he heard such a ridiculous thing. Corpse that mentally communicates? Yeah right.

She chuckled. "It's a true honor. The Dark Brotherhood has been waiting for that moment for years and poor Cicero, it nearly drove him crazy. Well, he is crazy." Humor was in her blue eyes as she looked away in memory.

Cicero. Even that name nearly drive him insane. He was never fond of bards or jokers. Especially jesters. "What is Cicero's story anyway?"

Keira looked at him sadly. "He has a long and dark history of being alone. He wasn't always that crazy, but it grew worse over the years. I never met him while he was sane." She then smiled. "but don't be fooled. He's craftier than he looks." She then walked past him with knowing glint in her eye, and walked out of Jorrvaskr, leaving the elf pondering about her words.

* * *

Sleeping in the beds of Jorrvaskr, Ryvren kept having dreams of the Brotherhood and the assassination of his first contract. He kept hearing news about Mikael and the Brotherhood and he would just play along, but only Keira knew the truth. He wanted the thrill of it. He wanted to replay that moment again and again. He wanted the power. The restless elf got up, threw on his brown tunic, strapped his sword to his hip, then snuck out of the sleeping quarters, out of Jorrvaskr, and began to head for the gates, but walked into the Nord woman, who was standing in front of what he guessed was Breezehome. "Where are you going?" She asked, dressed in a yellow dress.

"Since when are you my mother?" He questioned sourly, trying to walk past her.

"I know assassins, Ryvren," the woman said strongly and had a hint of concern in her voice, making him turn to her. "You want more blood."

The Dunmer felt his heart pound at those words as the thrill entered his head. He just looked at her, not knowing what to say. She may be the Listener, but she was also the Harbinger, a person of wisdom.

Kiera sighed, relaxing. "At least you don't have your warpaint and armor on."

"There's no reason to have it at this night," he replied.

"Ryvren, we may be assassins, but we have honor. We don't just going around and killing people. We have contracts."

"I wasn't going to kill anyone." It was the truth. He just wanted to walk around the city, getting his mind off things. The elf then looked at her. "Why did you get me the armor anyway? I could take care of myself."

"I know. But I also knew that you didn't have any money and that your other armor was technically useless in the snow after the troll tore at it."

"Thanks," he just muttered, looking at her, patience wearing thin.

The woman then gave small nods as she looked down and back to him. "Just take care of yourself, Ryvren." She then backed away into her house. "Good-night."

"Night," he said as she disappeared inside and closed the door and the elf carried on his way as the green and blue lights were shining above him. When he got outside the city gates, he just walked past the stables and turned right. Memories of Morrowind was in his mind as he would just walk. The Dunmer, villages, netchs, and everything else was making him homesick. He had no reason to stay in Skyrim after the wreck, but he had a little bigger reason of returning, He had a woman in Morrowind, but it wasn't working out so well. She wanted more than just a trader. She wanted a stronger man like a guard or in the Fighter's Guild or something. He was on the ship for Skyrim for a trade, but it ultimately wrecked in a storm not far from the coast. She probably even thought that he was dead. He smirked at the thought. At least people didn't expect him to return. Skyrim was his new home. Morrowind was a mere memory of what could be. He then smiled as he looked at the ground. "The trader is dead, but you are reborn," he told himself as a surge of power came over him. He was no long the pathetic trader who ran his little shop. He was now a warrior and assassin who served Sithis.


	7. Chapter 6

About a week had past since Ryvren was apart of the Dark Brotherhood and things were going just fine. Dressed in his assassin armor and black warpaint, he was ready for anything. He even met the other member, an Argonian mage, Salith-ei, a typical green Argonian dressed in black and red robes of a mage with three scars over his right eye. He said that he was attacked by a Khajiit when he first arrived in Skyrim five years ago. Things were going well, even when the Listener went on a special contract for the Night Mother and to most of their relief, took the jester with her. That made him even believe in the Night Mother a little bit more than when he was first told about her.

"Ryvren," a smooth voice whispered, making the Dunmer face Aldryra, who led him to the back of the sleeping quarters. She closed the door and looked at him in the eyes with seriousness. "I have to ask you something."

"What is it?" He could see the suspicion in her crimson eyes.

"Do you really believe the whole Night Mother thing?"

"Well," he began. He was skeptical of it when he first heard of it, but after seeing it for his own eyes as Keira obeyed and even took Cicero with her, it was hard for him to not believe. "After what she told me and what I just witnessed, I do a little."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," the female Dunmer scoffed. "The Night Mother is just a myth. Just for them to believe in something. When I first came here a year ago, I knew that it wasn't true. Even Keira believes it so much, she's hearing things." A scheming smile grew upon her thin lips. "This is what I say, we destroy the corpse and-"

His eyes snapped open. "Are you insane? We'll get caught. Cicero-"

"Cicero is mad. We all know that. Besides, without the corpse to take care of, we won't need a Keeper." A sly glint was in her eye.

Ryvren looked away, then looked back at her. "No. I'm not doing this." He was always loyal to those who trust him and he was not willing to betray that trust. For anything.

Aldryra chuckled in disbelief. "Oh, Ryvren. I was hoping you're smarter than this." She then looked at him. "Have you heard of Astrid, the former leader before Keira?"

He shook his head.

"Astrid never believed in the Five Tenants or the Night Mother and supposedly that got her and the rest of the Brotherhood destroyed. Only Nazir, Babette, Kiera, and Cicero survived."

"What happened?" He looked at her with wonder. Keira never even mentioned anything about that to him.

The woman shrugged. "Just a betrayal over the betrayer." She then stepped forward and whispered in his pointed ear, "You and I could be the leaders of this Brotherhood and rule it the made it was to be ruled." She then walked out of the room, leaving him to think.

Ryvren knew that he had to talk to Keira about the betrayal, but knew that in his gut Aldryra was wrong about it, but the thought of being leader of the Dark Brotherhood was almost like music to his ears. It meant betraying the trust of his Listener and Harbinger and that was something that he never wanted to do. He was not a traitor, he was just a man who wanted power.

"Ryvren!" Nazir called, making the elf walk out to him and found the Redgaurd holding a piece of paper. "We have a contract in Markarth. Been there?"

"Never heard of it," he admitted. He smirked. "I'm still new to Skyrim, remember?"

"Right. Well, her name is Muiri. We were summoned by her about a year ago. I guess she needs us again." He looked him in the eyes. "Are you up for it?"

He smiled. "Sure. Where is the city?"

He handed him a map with the location of the contract. "I had a feeling you would need this, so I had it already for you." He smiled with humor in his dark eyes. "Kill well, and kill often."

Ryvren smiled back and gave a curt nod. "Yes, brother." He went back to the training room, grabbed his sword and bow and arrows, and walked up the stairs. When he came across the corpse, he just stopped and looked at her. Her skeletal arms were crossed around her shoulders and her mouth gaped open with her head tilted to the side. Her ears were pointed and her eyes were red, telling him that she was once a elf. The assassin just shook his head and began to pull his hood over his stringy black hair and walked out of the Sanctuary.

* * *

After days of traveling, the assassin finally found the Dwarven city of Markarth. When he got past the guards and into the city, he looked around in awe. He never seen a city like this before. So much stone and water. He even heard that it was the city of silver. He found the Silver-Blood Inn very quickly, walked in, and began to look for a Muiri. He was getting some odd looks of the people, but when he walked into a room on the right, there was small Breten woman with short brown hair, wearing a yellow dress.

"You're the assassin," she whispered. She then walked past him and closed the bronze doors and looked back at him. "I called upon your family a year ago and I need you again."

He smirked at her. "Yes. What do you need?" He simply asked, sensing the nervousness inside her.

"I just want to start that last time I sent your friend to kill a man that lied to me and much more. I also forgot about the other one that she failed to kill."

His red eyes narrowed in annoyance. "For the love of Sithis, get to the point."

"I need to kill a man name Jarrko Erikson."

"For what reason?" He crossed his arms as she looked at him in heartache.

"I got over the man over the year and I didn't want to fall in love easily, so I had my guard up, but I finally was able to trust him, he turned out to be wanted. He escaped Solitude and fled to Markarth. He was wanted for murder and when they were looking for him, he made me hide with him in a cave, afraid that I would give him away."

The assassin lightened intently.

"He threatened my life and held me captive," she continued as anger and heartache began to show. "He held me captive till I married him," she whispered.

"What?" He whispered in disbelief. Never had he heard such a thing.

Muiri looked away to the fireplace as she rubbed her arm in uncertainty. "He-he told me that if he was to be caught, he wanted to make sure that there was a woman with his name somewhere. But I got away before he could do anything. Days past and he was still never found. If you can find him, I'll pay you well." Her brown eyes were looking deeply into his.

There was something that inside him that he knew that he could not let her down, even though that he was probably going on a wild goose chase. He nodded. "I'll do the best I can."

"He was last found in the Liar's Retreat by Dragon Bridge. Good luck," she said quietly.

"Thanks." He then walked out of the room and began his search.

* * *

It wasn't long when the assassin arrived at Liar's Retreat. His eyes narrowed in anger at the thought of this criminal. He just took a deep breath, and walked in, hoping that this man was going to be in there. It was an abandoned cave, but when he got to the very end, sure enough, there was a man sharpening a new sword. "Jarrko," he called coldly, getting his attention. The Brotherhood has come."

The man was a strong man, long blond hair with a rough beard, dressed in hide armor. He slowly stood up, gripped his ebony sword, and gave him a cold stare. "Who sent you?" His thick Nordic accent made his already cold voice, sound colder.

"A woman," was all that he said as his eyes narrowed in caution and suspicion, ready for a fight.

Jarrko's eyes narrowed. "Muiri? The woman who abandoned me at my time of need?"

"You lied to her. You threatened her. You-"

"I didn't want to lose her!" He shouted, anger seeping through his words.

"You never loved her," Ryvren challenged. "You just wanted a woman to come home to. You knew she would never stay if she found out that you are a wanted murderer. You used her."

The strong Nord sneered darkly as he neared the elf. "I am a killer and it'll be fun to kill an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood. Especially a milk-drinker."


	8. Chapter 7

The assassin drew his sword as the Nord approached him. Then the murderer struck first, but the Dunmer blocked it, making the fight quickly heat up. Jarrko swung his sword and slashed each way, trying to knock the elf off his feet. Ryvren stumbled back, making the hood fall off, revealing his face with his black shoulder-length, stringy hair with the black warpaint on his face.

Jarrko smirked at the dark elf. "At least I see who I'm going to kill."

The elf was just taking deep breaths, thinking about the contract. He was not going to fail his second one. He was an assassin. He was a member of the Dark Brotherhood and he was not going to let them down. He came fighting back strongly, and even knocked the sword out of his hand and held the tip of his own weapon to the contract's chest with a smile. "I win."

"Not yet!" He cried as he pulled out a dagger from his hip, went under the sword, and slashed at the elf's face, cutting him just under the eye on his cheek, making him wince at the pain, and placed a hand over his bleeding cheek. He looked at his hand, and there was blood over the black glove. Just as he looked up, the Nord came at him, with a dagger and sword. He managed to dodge him in time, then without thinking, slashed him from the back, making him scream in pain and fall to the ground. "That was for cutting me," he said coldly as he watched down at the man, who quickly rolled over to face him with terror in his green eyes. "And this," the assassin began as he placed his sword over the Nord, "is for Muiri." He then stabbed him.

Jarrko chocked as he coughed up blood with terror in his eyes, then died with his eyes glazed over.

Ryvren took a deep breath as he looked at his ebony sword and gave a small half shrug. He dropped his own sword and picked up the Nord's sword. "This is a nice sword. I'll take this for calling me a mild-drinker," he muttered and slid the sword into his own sheath, then walked out of the cave, returning to Muiri with news of her ex-lover's death.

* * *

The blood on his cheek was nearly dry as he returned to Markarth, but the wound was still stinging and he had no health potions and not that quite into using magic. Besides, it wasn't bad enough to use magic, so he just left, hoping that it wasn't going to grow infected. With his hood back up and his game face on, he just wanted to talk to the Breten and get his reward for the kill. He walked into the inn and went to the same room and found Muiri sitting by the fire, then stood up with a smile, but it didn't last long.

"Your cheek," she said quietly.

"It's nothing," he replied casually. "Jarrko is dead."

She nodded eagerly. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She then held out a ready pouch of gold. "Here is your reward. It's only 200."

The assassin slowly took the pouch, not quite happy with the reward, but she began to remove a ring from her middle finger.

"Take this," she said as she offered him a silver ring. "It enhances poisons that you make by fifteen percent. Please take it. You can sell it for 100." She then looked him in the eyes as she slowly brought her hand to his wounded cheek. "And let me heal you."

The assassin turned away. "I'm fine. Good-bye." He was about to walk out, but she took his arm.

"Please. I'm an alchemist and I can't let the man who helped me walk away like this."

Ryvren slowly looked back at the small Breten woman. Her brown eyes were flooded with concern and pleaded to help. The assassin just stood there and took sigh and replied coldly, "Very well."

She beamed. "Great. Follow me to the Hag's Cure. All my things are there." She took the lead, opened the doors, and walked out of the room with the assassin following her out to the city, around to the other side of the river, past the mine, and to the Hag's Cure. "Bothela is on an errand, so I'm taking care of this place right now," Muiri explained as she walked behind the counter as the elf was just looking around at the shop that was filled with potions, bottles, and alchemy ingredients. He never seen anything like this before, let alone be with a true alchemist. Alchemy just wasn't his thing, let alone magic. "Here," she said as she walked to a water basin with him following as she was carrying a bottle and cloth and placed the both on a dresser and looked at him with uncertainty as she was hesitate to near his hood.

Ryvren was silent as he pulled the hood down with both hands, revealing his thin face with black warpaint, and deep gash on his cheek.

"I had a feeling you were a dark elf," Muiri comment as she took a cloth and dabbed it in a water basin.

"I don't have the typical accent of a Dunmer," he simply explained and it was true. His was just smooth like silk, kind of rare for a dark elf.

"No, it was your red eyes and grey skin, even though it was hard for me to see you in the shadows." She wrung out the water of the cloth.  
"This may sting." The alchemist gently dabbed the cut, making the elf wince a little, but quickly ignored the pain and allowed her to clean the wound.

"I'm sorry this happened," the Breten muttered.

He smirked at that. "It comes with the territory."

She would rinse the blood off and continued to cleaned the wound, and hissed at the real sight of it. "It's going to scar, that's for sure. I'll get a different potion to cleanse it." She then took the other bottle and walked away, but shortly came back with a small health potion.

The assassin shook his head with a smirk of disbelief. "Don't tell me I have to drink that just for a cut."

"No," she replied as she poured a couple of drops on to the cloth and began to dab the cut. "I'm just simply doing this."

Almost instantly, he could feel warmth coming over the wound as it was beginning to heal.

"There," she said as she pulled the cloth away with a small smile. "Better, but you will have a scar."

The Dunmer smirked at her. "Battle wounds and that's another reason why they have warpaint," he joked.

Muiri laughed lightly at that as he chuckled with amusement. She then sighed with a small smile. "Thank you again-"

"Ryvren," he said, looking her in the eyes. They were light brown and he wasn't quite used to seeing different colored eyes. Just crimson. They were almost beautiful to him.

"Ryvren," she repeated, then smirked. "I didn't know assassins can tell their names."

"It's not advised," he simply stated, but a sly smile crept upon his face. "But something tells me that you need to know my name."

"I could turn you in," she stated as the smile faded as she began to wash the cloth off.

"For killing a murderer?"

"Assassins aren't that well liked, are they?" She asked nonchalantly as she wrung out the cloth and took the health potion, then began to walk away.

Ryvren approached her grimly. "No," he said darkly, "and you shouldn't either." It was true. No one should trust an assassin. Even when a person summons them.

The small woman turned to him and looked him in the eye. "Who said I did?"

A faint smirk grew upon his lips as he slowly nodded his head. "Smart woman." He then began to walk out of the shop as he put his hood back on.

"Wait!" She called, making him stop in his tracks. "Will I see you again?"

The elf sighed heavily, walked up to her, grabbed her arms and firmly kissed her on the lips. Then looked her in the eyes. "I thought you don't trust me," he stated in amusement. Then he walked out with smile on his face. There was something about her he liked and didn't know what that was, but there was something that caught his eye. When he walked out of the shop, he pulled the ring from his pouch and smiled, then stuck it back in the pouch and carried on his way.

* * *

He returned to the sanctuary at noon the next day and was greeted by Babette, Nazir, Keira, and not so much Cicero, which he did not mind that much. Aldryra and Salith-ei was on a contract, which he did not mind so much either. The blond Listener approached him with a smile as he was walking down the stairs. "Brother, welcome back. How was-" she then frowned as the sight of his healing wound, then smirked. "I see you had some trouble."

The Dunmer smirked at that as he removed his hood. "You can say that."

"So," Keira asked as she crossed her arms. "How was it other than getting sliced?" Humor was in her eyes.

Ryvren nodded with a small shrug. "It was exciting," he answered as a smile crept upon his face. It was the truth and it was something that he did not regret at all. As if he felt regret at all.

She chuckled. "Glad to hear. No go and put your gear away and relax. You earned it."

Without saying another word, he did what he was told as he headed to his area of the assassins' room and began to place his sword away. He then placed his had in his pouch and pulled out the silver ring, giving it one more look as a smirk grew upon his face. "You will see me again, Muiri," he said quietly to himself, then placed it back in his pouch, and walked out of the room, back to his Dark Family with the Breten in the back of his mind.


	9. Chapter 8

A couple of days past after meeting Muiri, Ryvren was still finding himself taking her silver ring from his pocket and admiring it. She said it was a good price to sell, but why would he sell it? That's the only thing he had of her and he knew that he wanted to see her again and the problem was that he didn't know when he would see her again, let alone be in Markarth. He took a deep breath, grabbed a pen and paper and set at the desk in the Sanctuary's sleeping quarters with the doors closed and stared at the blank paper. Okay. So he was going to write a letter. When was the last time he wrote a letter? Let alone a letter to a woman, and not to mention, the woman who was human. He just began to write.

_Muiri,_

I don't know when I'll be able see you again and I may want to see you, but write now the only thing I can do is write. I just want to make sure that things are going fine with you and if there are any problems, I want you to-

He crumpled up the letter and heavily sighed in annoyance. Why did he want to see that woman? What was so special about her, a human, anyway? He knew what it was. She knew his name and that he was an assassin and there was something that he wanted to call his own. But he sensed her naiveness, her longing for love, and for some reason, he wanted that. He shook the thought from his head. He had love. He even had a woman waiting for him in Morrowind, but he was killed in the shipwreck and Skyrim had a better life for him. He knew he was a selfish bastard and knew that he had to change, but deep down, it felt like he couldn't. There was no love for him. He knew how to treat a woman right, but their love would only last for so long. The woman wanted marriage, but he never wanted to marry. It wasn't his thing. Maybe one day, but he was forty and he knew that he didn't want marriage.

He placed the paper on a burning candle on the desk and watched it slowly burn and turn to ash that would float on the wood. Why would she, a human, want to be with an elf anyway? He had a Dunmer woman in Morrowind, but- he heavily sighed. "I should've returned to her," he muttered sadly to himself. He stood up from the desk, changed into his ebony armor, and walked out of the room. He was tired of Dawnstar and just wanted to return to Whiterun. To bad he didn't have a home of his own to go to. He then got an idea. A home. He could get a home. But how? Keira has a home. The Dunmer then approached the Listener who was talking to the jester.

"Keira," he called as he walked up to her.

The smiling woman turned to him. "Yes?"

"I need to ask you a very odd question."

She frowned with wonder in her blue eyes. "What is it?"

"How do you buy a house in a hold?"

Keira crossed her arms. "You need to have the city and the Jarl to like you. Do favors for the Jarl and some favors for the people in the city. Why?"

He just smirked. "I need to get my own place."

"Like where?"

He shrugged as he began to walk away. "Markarth." Then with that, he headed to the stairs and to the entrance and began his journey to the Dwarven city and to have a place of his own and then he would see if Muiri was the one that he would want. Heeding Keira's words, that is just what the Companion did.

Going straight to Jarl Igmund he humbly asked what needed to be done, he got his job, and the task just needed to be fulfilled. He knew that if he was to buy a house, he would have to make enough money with the Brotherhood and the Companions.

* * *

It took almost a week to become the Thane of Markarth, but he was eventually granted the honor of the title and was allowed to buy a new house. He wouldn't mind buying it now, just owning a house and living in his own place would be nice. He couldn't even remember the last time he slept in a bed that he owned. He then mentally shrugged and looked at the steward. "I'll buy the house."

The older man smiled. "Excellent."

He paid the money and earned the key to the house and began to pay for the interior design which basically scrapped away all his money. Not happy about losing money, and knowing that it was going to take time moving things in the house, he then made his way to the gates and hailed at cart to Whiterun to speak to the Companions about jobs. Something told him that he should've spoken to Muiri, but it was too late now. Why was he always thinking of that Breten? He just left a woman in Morrowind who thinks him dead. He just sighed softly to himself. He should've spoken to her. Maybe when he returns to the city, he'll drop by the shop and buy a couple of ingratiates or something- even though he doesn't do alchemy.

* * *

Upon reaching Jorrvaskr, the Companions were stating to question his whereabouts as well as Keira's who was not in at the moment. He just simply told them he got caught up in somethings, then Athis pulled him away outside of Jorrvaskr and began to walk around the city.

"I love Kiera," he started off straightforwardly as they were walking down the steps. "And if anything happened to her, I don't know what I would do."

"I understand," the Dunmer replied truthfully to his brethern.

He then stopped and looked at him in the eyes. "I think you know where my wife is," his voice was cold and his crimson eyes were harsh. "Where is she?"

"The Harbinger's business is none of mine," he answered simply. It was true, but not all of.

Athis may have sensed the full truth behind his words as he growled and his eyes flashed. "I think you do," he said coldly. "Where is my wife? I try to talk to her, but she just says business." Worry then filled his eyes. "Ryvren, I need to know where she is. There are nights when I think she isn't going to come back due to death or for other reasons." They stopped walking as the concern of a worried husband came over the redheaded Dunmer, who looked away.

Ryvren just looked at him in bafflement. "You think Keira would be with someone else?"

"No," he answered as if the energy was drained from him, "She would never do that. It just sometimes feels that she leaves because of Farkas. She didn't want to be with anyone else after he died." Sadness was in his voice and eyes.

"But she married you."

"She did, but in the beginning people were saying that she only wanted to be love and be loved and that she was using me for that love, even though she didn't love me. I think she didn't really love me in the bingeing, I _know_ she didn't really love me in the beginning, but she fell in love. I could see it her eyes. Everyday they seemed to get brighter and when I touch or kiss her, she felt more relaxed and love would shine in her eyes."

The black-haired dark elf looked at him. "You're just afraid that you're going to lose her."

Athis turned to him. "Wouldn't you?"

He slowly nodded his head. "I would." He knew that if his wife or someone he loved disappeared and tell him that they were just doing jobs, he would be worried. He would want his wife.

The two men fell in silence, until the newcomer got an idea. "I'll talk to Keira next time I see her."

That got his attention as he looked at him as if he said something wrong. "You know where my wife goes? You go with her, don't you?"

Ryvren just sighed. "I'll just see what I can do."

"You and her both disappear and return with each other." Ambition was in his eyes as he was getting more excited as if he knew that his new Shield-Brother was hiding something. "Where do you go?"

The secret assassin knew that he could tell about the Listener or the Brotherhood, so he just kept calm and said, "I have been doing some work for the Jarl of the Reach." It was the truth. "And like I said. I'll talk to Keira next time I see her."

"About what?" He cried, worry in his eyes.

He hated making a husband more concerned and worried, but it was only for now. "You have my word." With that, he walked back to Jorrvaskr, silently hoping that the Listener was going to tell her husband the truth or he may end the same way it did with Farkas: Following Keira to where and getting killed by bandits. She was putting her husband's life, sanity, and trust in danger, and she didn't even know it.


	10. Chapter 9

That same night, Ryvren was hoping that Keira was going to return to Whiterun soon as he was watching the roads outside the city and sure enough, she did as the black horse was approaching the stables with the proud Nord woman atop. Dressed in a dark-green tunic that he got from the marketplace- just barely enough money now doesn't even have money to buy three potatoes- he hurried down to the stables as she was dismounting as the sun was beginning to set.

"Ryvren," she said, confused of seeing the dark elf as he approached her. "What are-"

"You have to tell Athis," he ordered straightforwardly.

"What?" The secret assassin arched an eyebrow.

"You must tell Athis about the Brotherhood," he said as anger was growing. She kept it from him this long and it was driving her husband mad. Did she even care?

"You know I can't do that," she said sadly as she led Shadowmere to the stable and began to remove his saddle.

"Why not? Your husband is worried sick about you," he hissed. "Do you not even care about his feelings? He loves you, Keira, and you kept this hidden long enough."

The woman flashed at him. "I can't tell anyone that I'm the Listener of the Brotherhood."

"Do you want him to follow you if you leave again?" He asked coldly. "Because last time, that happened, you became a widow." He knew that he crossed the line with those words, but she has to understand what she may cause.

Keira burned death at him, but slowly relaxed with a heavy sigh. "You're right. Farkas was only trying to protect me and Athis wants to trust me, but he may be losing that trust." She looked down with a slight nod. "Very well. I'll tell him tonight."

"Good. If you don't, I will," he growled, knowing that he would. He hated when husbands and wives kept secrets away from each other. It always drove him mad. He'd never kept a secret like this from a lover and that was the truth. He then walked up the path to the city and headed for Jorrvaskr, where he just wanted to avoid everyone.

~ ~ ~

The next day, Ryvren was going on a job for the Companions, but wanted to talk to Keira if she told her husband the truth and right when he saw her, he walked up to her and pulled her away so they could talk alone. "Did you tell him?"

"Yes," she heavily sighed as she couldn't look at him.

"How did it go?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"He just was glad that I was alright and that he still loves me, but I can tell that there is distance in his eyes. I even told him that you were part of the Brotherhood. He's not happy with it, but he knows that I am still loyal to the Companions and to him." She then smiled kindly at him. "Thank you, Ryvren. If it wasn't for you, who knows when he would know."

The Dunmer smirked. "Of course. I'm going to Ivarstead for a problem, but maybe you should stay here in the meantime." He began to walk away.

"Are you Thane of Markarth?" She suddenly asked.

He smirked at that as he looked at her over his shoulder. "Yes, and in a couple of days and I shall return there to see my new home." He then carried on to walk.

"Ryvren."

He stopped again.

"Maybe you should find someone in your life."

He smirked sadly at that. "Maybe." Then the walked out the door with the Breten on his mind. He had to see her again. She was going to drive him crazy. He pulled her ring out from his pocket and heavy sighed. Yeah. He had to see her again. After Ivarstead, he'd return to Whiterun, then to Markarth and visit Muiri. He had no choice, but instead of that, Keira ending up getting a letter, and when he returned to Vilkas for his payment, the Listener pulled him aside with worry in her blue eyes.

"We have a problem: Aldryra has not yet retuned from her contract. Nazir wrote me."

"That was about a week ago," Ryvren said as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes in wonder.

"Yes. Her contract was a vampire in Broken Fang Cave by Rorikstead and she has not returned. Ryvren, I need to-"

"I'll do it," he said strongly as he arms fell to his side. "You've been gone long enough." He gave her a small smile.

"Be careful, Ryvren," she warned.

With that, he grabbed his bow and arrows with his ebony sword at his hip, and walked out the door. He knew Aldryra was against Keira and the Night Mother. Was this a plan to get him on her side? No, otherwise she would've sent for him personally. What ever happened to the Dunmer woman, he knew it wasn't good or she was sneakier than he thought. He knew he would have his guard up. There was no way he was going to end up betraying Keira, his Listener and Harbinger.

* * *

Upon arriving at the Broken Fang Cave, Ryvren knew that this place was bad by the sight of bones and blood at the entrance, but he didn't care. He had to get to Aldryra and he was not going to give up until he did. She was still an assassin of the Brotherhood and he was not going to abandon her, if she was in here, that is. Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked into the cave with bow drawn and when he got inside, he found a vampire walking around, and shot at her, killing her instantly, but alerting the other two nearby. He drew another arrow and was about to shoot one down, until his eyes grew in horror. "Aldryra?" He whispered in his breath. He then quickly aimed for the other, killing him. He then stood up and placed his bow back.

"Ryvren?" The woman asked. Her eyes were glowing orange.

"Aldryra," he stated as he began to walk down to her. "What happened to-" he backed away at the sight. Her grey skin was paler as her crimson eyes were glowing. She was no longer wearing her crimson and black armor. She was wearing black robes instead with a dagger on her hip.

"I'm a vampire," she said quietly. "They captured me when I was on the contract. I'll take they sent help."

"Nazir wrote saying that you didn't return. There must be a cure."

"It's too late. there is no cure. I changed, Ryvren. Now you must do me a favor," anger was in her eyes. "Kill Keira," she growled.

"What?" He ashes quietly, confused of her words.

"Kill the Listener and destroy the Night Mother. We can still become leaders. We can-"

"You're mad," he growled as his eyes narrowed. "There is no way I'm going to be on your side."

"But Babette is also a vampire!" She cried.

"I don't care. I was _never_ going to be on your side, Aldryra." He slowly placed a hand over the hilt of his ebony blade, ready to cut her down. He knew that she was crazy before this, but now this is worse.

"Then you will die," she growled as her eye gleamed with a dark evil and hissed, revealing her fangs, then leapt to him with dagger in hand. Just as he was about to unsheathe his sword, he felt pain on his neck as her fangs found his veins and began to drink his blood. "Become one of us," she whispered in his pointed ear. "Otherwise I'll be forced with end your life, Ryvren."

"Never," he growled, fighting the paralysis that her bite caused, then stabbed her in the gut, making her gasp her last breath as blood began to drip from her mouth. He pulled the ebony sword away and she fell dead. He placed his gloved hand over the bite with red blood over his ebony gauntlets. He sheathed his sword, and began to walk out, thanking that his black shoulder-length hair was covering the bite. Now he just has to tell the Listener of the death of their former sister and maybe about the bite.


	11. Chapter 10

Ryvren wasn't very concerned about the vampire's bite as he entered Jorrvaskr. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Well that was not the main problem right. When Kiera walked up to him with concern in her eyes, she asked, "Did you find her?"

"Yeah," he answered with a heavy heart. "But she's dead."

"They killed her, didn't they?"

"I did," the assassin admitted. "She was a vampire and she tried to bite me." _And succeeded,_ he added to himself.

Her eyes fell to sadness. "That's awful. My former housecarl was killed by a vampire awhile back," she said sadly as her eyes looked away."Damn things," she hissed.

Ryvren then sighed, catching her attention. "Not only that, but she was against you. She wanted me to join with her to kill you and destroy the Night Mother so her- or we- could lead the Brotherhood." Even though she was dead, Keira had to know the truth. Their sister wasn't who they all thought she was.

She looked at him, taken aback by his words and he knew that she had her guard up as if he was still going to betray her.

"I was never going to join her," he explained quickly. "She was going to become a traitor and I would've warned you if she was going to try anything." It was the truth. He trusted the Listener and the Five Tenants before he'd trust anyone else.

Keira dipped her head graciously. "Thank you, Ryvren. Now I believe that you should go to Dawnstar and tell the others of the news."

He bowed he head and was about to walk out, until she took his arm, making him look at her, but her eyes were not looking at his, they were looked at his neck. She gently gently pushed his black hair away, revealing the bite mark. He was calm in the outside, but in the in was felt worry.

"Tell Babette about this," she said softly as she pulled away.

"I will," he promised, then began to leave, hoping that nothing was wrong with him.

* * *

Upon arriving the Sanctuary, the others gathered around him as he called forth in the main hall. "The Listener sent me to inform you the death of our sister, Aldryra," he said strongly.

Everyones' face fell in shock and sadness as soft gasps escaped their lips.

"She was made into a vampire during her contract and was killed by my own hand. Her soul, pray maybe, safe with Sithis."

"You killed our Dark Sister?" The smooth voice of the Argonian mage, Salith-ei, questioned.

"I had no choice," he admitted. "She was going to try to bite me if not kill me. Not only that, she was going to turn traitor on all of us and wanted me to join her!"

They all gasped.

"She wanted to kill our Listener and destroy the Night Mother, believing that everything was lies."

"Just like Astrid," Ciciero growled angrily.

Nazir then turned to the Dunmer. "Were you going to join her?"

"No," he answered, looking at the Redgaurd in the eyes. "I would never betray Kiera nor this family. I would've warned you all if there was a plan, but it was only talk."He turned to the others. "I don't know when the Listener will return, but she is aware of everything. That is all."

They slowly began to fade as the Argonian and Redgaurd were discussing about this information and Ryvren followed the young vampire. "I got bit by Aldryra and Keira told me to talk to you," he said in a hushed voice, not wanting anyone to hear.

The girl's red eyes slightly grew wide at his words, but remained calm and took lead to the stairs. "Follow me." She walked by her alchemy plants and told him to sit in the nearby chair, approached him, and pushed his hair away, revealing the bite mark. "Do you feel different in any way?"

He gave a small shake of the head. "Not really," he admitted. He was keeping his nerves up, trying to quickly sense anything different, but he felt like a usual Dunmer.

"I have no cure for it, but you will feel different," she said as a matter-of-fact.

Ryvren felt his blood run cold at her words as he looked at her red eyes. "Like what?"

"The sun's light will become brighter and hurt a little and you'll feel weaker during the day. You'll begin to crave blood and you'll be stronger at night. But you must be careful at drinking blood. It doesn't change people, but you may want to kill them. Her bite was made to change you. She wanted to change you."

"Anything else?" He muttered, not wanting to go through those changes. He liked his life and he didn't want it to change.

"You'll age much slower. I'm 200-years-old," the little girl said proudly, crossing her arms.

Ryvren hung his head at those words. "No," he whispered. He never wanted to age like that. He never wanted to be immortal.

"Your heart will hardly beat and death always feels closer than it does, but you'll never be able to reach it. Sad, I know, but that's the fact." She then smiled happily, reveling her tiny fangs. "Hey, then I won't be the only vampire in the sanctuary."

He couldn't smile at that, no matter how hard he wanted to, making him look down with his elbows on his knees. "Is there any cure?"

"Only death."

He closed his crimson eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again. "Very well." He then stood up and smiled thinly at her. "Thank you, Babette."

She smiled kindly. "Don't mention it and if you need any help, don't hesitate to ask."

Ryvren just smiled graciously at her, then walked down the stairs with a heavy heart. He was never going to be the same. He was never going to be the man he once knew. He was going to be a vampire. Looks like the new and better life in Skyrim was only going to get darker, but he will not be alone. After all, he does have his Dark Family beside him, who were much more accepting than the Companions. Now he knew that if he was too see Muiri, it would be now, before he was to walk in the path of darkness alone. He told Nazir that he was going, and then he walked out of the Sanctuary, en route to the Dwarven city.

* * *

It was in the middle of the night when Ryvren arrived at the city and just made a beeline for Vlidrel Hall and was taken aback by how many things was in there. The table was set up with the fires going, fresh food on plates and in bowls. Beds were made with every thing looking nice and tidy. This house was his. It was his house and no one else's. He was alone at last. The smiling Dunmer walked to his room and looked in the wardrobe and found a red tunic. Good. His other one was in Jorrvaskr. He changed out of his ebony armor, washed his black warpaint off and climbed into bed. Tomorrow, he was going to see the Breten, but he knew that he would never be able to be with her or anyone. This house was his, but it was too big to live alone, but he would get used to it. He had to.


	12. Chapter 11

In the morning, after getting dressed in his new red tunic and boots, Ryvren grabbed a red apple for a quick breakfast as he walked out, but when he stepped outside, he noticed that the sun was brighter than usual and his blood felt warm, then worry entered his heart. The brighter sun. A symptom that was a worsening to vampirism. He just shook his head. he had to see her. Just once. He hurried to the the alchemy shop, hoping that the Breten was there and sure enough, she was.

"Hi," she said kindly as an older woman was making potions. "And welcome to- Ryvren?" She asked, taken away from his appearance.

The Dunmer smirked as he approached her. "Surprised?"

"You look different with out your warpaint and armor," she commented, trying to get used to his different self with a small smile creeping upon her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to see you again," he said as he slowly pulled the silver ring from his pouch on his hip with a small smile.

Her eyes grew in awe. "You kept it?"

"I did."

"Who is this, Muiri?" The older woman asked as she approached to the two of them.

The Breten smiled to the woman. "Bothela, this is Ryvren, a friend of mine." She turned to the Dunmer. "Ryvren, this is Bothela, my mentor."

Ryvren smiled kindly at her. "A pleasure to meet you," he said. He knew when to be a gentleman at times and elders always had his respect.

"Remember the last man you met," she whispered to the younger woman's ear.

"I know," she hissed back, but glanced at the elf, then smiled. "What can I do you for?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to see you again. If you want, we can get something to eat tonight at the inn. I'll pay and just talk." That is all that he wanted to do. Nothing else, but talk to her, but he knew when his vampiric abilities began to change and crave for blood, he was going to stay away from her. If he was going to sink his teeth into anyone's veins, it was not going to be hers.

* * *

When the sun had set, Ryvren walked out of his home and noticed how much more energy he had than he did during the day. Ignoring the change, he made his way to the Silver-Blood Inn and sure enough, he found the Breten talking to a woman by the bar and laughing, then she noticed him and smiled, making a thin smile form on his own lips as he approached her.

"I thought you weren't going to show," she commented, still smiling.

He smirked. "I'd wouldn't do that."

She then looked at him. "Why did you want to talk to me?" She then crossed her arms. "Because if you think you're going to get anything-"

Ryvren couldn't help, but smirk at that. "Hardly. I'm not that kind of person. I just wanted to see you again. After all, it is rare that a person who summons an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood to know the name of that assassin."

She looked at him as her arms fell to her sides. "You didn't have to tell me."

He smirked at that. "I wanted to," It was true. She asked for his name and he told her. He was it his choice and he made that choice and so far, he didn't regret it. "Now, then," he said with a smile. "How about that dinner I promised?"

Muiri smiled as they both took a seat and ordered, and being the gentleman he was, Ryvren paid for it.

"So you just wanted to meet me?" She asked, looking at him as she carved into her grilled slaughterfish.

"You were kind enough to tend to my cut. An assassin," he explained as he picked up his tankard of ale and drank it as he looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Like we discussed before," she began, "I shouldn't trust you."

He placed his drink down and shook his head. "No, you shouldn't, but," he looked at her with gracious eyes, "that's how things begin. With trust."

She smiled and slowly nodded her head in agreement. "It's true." She then raised her tankard. "To trust?"

He smirked as he raised his own. "To trust." Then they clicked their tankards and took a drink.

As the night was ending, the two of them shared some laughs and had a good time. A better time than Ryvren had expected. They even organized to see each other again in the next couple of nights and without any more worries, the Dunmer care freely escorted her to the shop and left with a smile. All he had to do was court her and make the relationship grow, but in the meantime, he had to keep an eye on his changes.

* * *

The morning was just an usual morning as the Dunmer got dressed in his red tunic and threw on his boots, but instead was wanting food to eat, he was craving something else and drink would not satisfy. He swallowed in terror as he ran his tongue over his teeth and his crimson eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth and felt his teeth with his fingers and sure enough, there were two fangs. "No," he whispered. He rushed to a ways basin, poured water in it, and looked down at his reflection, making him jump back in fright. His eyes were no longer crimson like an elf's, but were glowing orange. He hesitantly looked back to the water and looked at his teeth which now had to fangs just sharp enough to bite through flesh. "Blood," he whispered to himself, knowing that is what he needed. "No," he growled as he backed away. "I refuse to drink blood." Can a vampire even refuse to drink blood? Or will that end up to starvation? He didn't even know.


	13. Chapter 12

It took about three days as usual to arrive to the Dawnstar sanctuary and when he did, Babette was the first person he spoke to and she was just as neutral as ever as he was sitting in the chair and she was examining his eyes and fangs. "I see the change has taken its affects quickly on you."

"Are you sure there is no cure?" He asked with wide eyes. "I'm starting to crave blood. Do I need blood to survive?" The fear of drinking blood and no longer living the life that he enjoyed was flooding his mind. He wanted to be just Ryvren and not a vampire, but that is no longer to be.

"You can survive without blood," the little vampire answered. "But you will have to find the cravings and your transformation is practically done." She then smiled. "Congratulations, brother, you are now officially a vampire."'

Ryvren heavy sighed. That was it. His life was now over as a mortal. He was never to be the same again and the day was never going to be bright. Only the darkness was to be his friend. "Great," he muttered as he stood up from the chair, then began to walk away to the steps to the main chamber.

"Where are you going?"

"I just have one question," he announced as he stopped walking with his back to her. "Can a vampire be with a mortal?"

"Only if that mortal is willing to be with a vampire, then yes." It sounded like she was smiling. "Why? Did you find someone?"

He faintly smirked. "Something like that." He made his way past Nazir and Salith-ei and to the bedrooms, sat at a desk, pulled a roll of paper and quill, dipped it in an inkwell, and began to write:

_Muiri,_

I just arrived in Dawnstar. I was wrong about Morthal. It turned to be the next city over. Anyway, I am writing to say that I am waiting to hear from the healer. My hopes are to get well, but they are quickly fading. There may be no cure to the strange illness. I do not know how dangerous it is, but I think it is only a Dunmer illness. Anyway, I am doing well and I hope all is well with you. I miss you, Muiri. I really do. When I return to Markarth, I hope to be with you. Not just as friends. I am saying this now, because I do not know when I'll be able to say it. I hope to hear from you soon if you can. Expect another letter soon.

Ryvren

He took a deep breath as he sat back and read the letter over. He wanted to tell her the full truth, but knew that was impossible. He would wait for her letter if she does write and hopefully he'll tell her then. If not, Ryvren of Morrowind would no longer exist, but only as an assassin and vampire. He knew he was going to walk this world alone and since he was now a vampire, it would even be more alone.

Wanting to tell Keira about the change himself, he made the rest of the family to keep the secret safe, especially the jester, who just crossed his arms and muttering about how secrets shouldn't be kept from the Listener and that spectral assassin would know it before she does. What he was talking about, the elf did not know nor care.

* * *

Days past and Ryvren was still keeping the romance alive between him and Muiri by writing letters and would explain everything that has been going with the changing and his illness 'that only Dunmer's get' and all sorts of white lies to get by. She would write how things were going in the Dwarven city as she would say that she could not wait to see him again and all that sorts. As Ryvren's heart was being filled with love and care, his mind, however, was being filled with darkness and confusion. The craving of blood was raising to a point where he would look at peoples' necks and wish to drink their blood and one night, he did. Sneaking into a room at the inn of the city, he found a sleeping Nord woman, knelt beside her, and bit her neck. The warm blood was filling his mouth as his fangs sank into her veins. He wanted more blood, but he knew that he did not want to kill her, he raised his head, whipped his mouth his sleeve of a dark-green tunic he bought from the caravans, and silently left.

It happened. He did it.

He drank the blood from a mortal and something never tasted so good. He was craving that iron taste, but he knew that he had to be careful, not wanting to over feed. He was no longer the elf he was. Instead, he was a true vampire and that was something to get used to. Things were fine in the Sanctuary as they were already used to their new brother being the second vampire that they have in the family, but then there was letter the next day that came in from Muiri.

_Ryvren,_ he read as he was sitting at the desk with bottle of ale beside him.

_I continue to worry about you and you never tell me what is going on. You jump over my questions and act as if nothing is a big deal. Ryvren, I am worried about you. I care for you and I don't know what is happening. Are you trying to make something big sound smaller and harmless? I'm scared for you. Please, Ryvren, just tell me, so I can no longer put terrible thoughts in my head and I know the reality of it. I about about you, Ryvren._

With love and care,

Muiri

The Dunmer heavily sighed as he leaned back in his chair and placed the letter on the desk. He had no choice, but to tell her. He would not reply now, but maybe tomorrow he would. He just had to get his thoughts in order and clear his head of worries, even though these was something that was meant to be told personally. Not through a letter.

Folding the letter and placing it in the drawer of the desk, he grabbed his ebony sword and scabbard around his waist, pulled up his black hood, and made his way out to Nazir, who had a waiting contract for him in Falkreath.

* * *

Ever though, traveling by night would be easier for the vampire, the elf knew that he would miss seeing the light of day as the long walk gave the elf time to reflect.

Though nearly ending up drowning from a shipwreck and then nearly freezing to death on the shore of Skyrim, he managed to survive thanks to a unknown guard of Windhelm. He became a Companion and then an assassin of the Dark Brotherhood, but now, he was something that he never wanted to become. A bloodthirsty monster. Literally. Not only that, but it was stopping him from being with a woman who may run in fear.

He shook the thought from his head.

Now was not the time to think those kind of thoughts. He had a job to do and was being paid for it.

Upon the arrival of Falkreath, the assassin spotted the man that the Redgaurd had told him about and the assassin slit his throat, killing him without being spotted as night was coming. Knowing that he would be stronger during the night, Ryvren was tried from the long walk during the day, but he refused to be a true vampire, making him stay at the inn. But when he have that craving for blood in the middle of the night, he silently crept to an occupied room and was about to bite the sleeping Imperial man. He mouth was watering at the sight of his neck veins, pulsing with fresh, warm blood, but right when he was about to bite, the man woke up. Just before he screamed, Ryvren snapped his neck, grabbed his sword from his own room, pulled up his black hood, and ran out the inn, and into a guard.

"Hey," the Nordic guard said. "Be-"

The elf knew that he was looking into his glowing eyes.

"Vampire! Assassin!" He yelled, alerting other guards as he unsheathed his sword.

Ryvren then ran as fast as he could, thanking that it was night, no matter how tired he really was. He jumped between two guards at the main entrance of the hold, and headed for the woods out confusion and terror. He was no longer an elf to others. He was a vampire. A monster and there was no going back. When he lost the guards, he walked to Riverwood, stopped by the inn, bought a bottle of mead, then walked out, drinking the mead and by the time he arrived to Whiterun, he did not want to go into the city, afraid of being recognized, but he knew that this was the last stop to Dawnstar, so he went in, hurried to the inn, bought a bottle of ale, then walked out. When he was on the of the city, he popped the cork, and began to consume the drink.

* * *

By the time he arrived in Dawnstar, dawn was breaking and he was in an unstable condition as he walked in the Brotherhood Sanctuary, making everyone look at him with wide eyes.

"Ryvren," Nazir began with confusion. "What are you doing back so soon and are you drunk?" Bafflement was in his voice as the elf paid no attention to his wide eyes.

"Just back," he answered in a slurred manner and headed for the bedrooms. When he got there, he removed his sword in the scabbard and his hood, and sat on his bed with his elbows on his knees, thinking about Muiri and his dark life.

"You're in love, aren't you?" A small voice asked. "With the woman you've been writing."

Ryvren turned his head to Babette with his stringy black hair in his glowing eyes. "I have an interest for her," he replied, not wanting to put his own hopes up.

"You shouldn't be drinking like this," the little vampire stated.

"Do I look like I give a damn?" He spat, not wanting to take orders from anyone at the moment.

Then the girl left, leaving the Dunmer in a drunken state of sleep.

The rest of the family was to keep every trace of alcohol away from their brother as Salith-ei was to keep an eye on him since he was the only mage and the second one to do proper healing. They all were quickly used to having another vampire, the second one in the family, but the only one not used to it was the vampire himself and he hated it. All he wanted to was drink until he could no longer feel, but right now, all he wanted was sleep.


	14. Chapter 13

Two days had past of being sober and Ryvren knew that he couldn't drink excessively, just wanting to numb the pain, but he eventually gave up think about the alcohol and began to think of the letter he was going to write to Muiri. How in Sithis's name was he going to tell her? He knew that he had to tell her, but he did not know how to start. So he got dressed in his green tunic and boots, with his other clothes in a satchel that the Argonian allowed him to borrow, then he began to walk out of the Sanctuary, heading to Markarth, just to tell Muiri the truth. With his ebony sword at his hip, the Dunmer walked, knowing that this was the only way to face her and that was personally.

When he was out of the city of Dawnstar, the snow was still blowing and he was try not freeze, but then, a group of four strange men approached him, making him stop. Their armor were heavy with crossbows and swords and helmets.

"This is him. The vampire in Dawnstar," a man told the others.

"Time to die, vampire," another growled.

Ryvren snarled as unsheathed his sword, ready for a battle and they attacked. He was blocking and spinning, and slashing at them, but their armor was strong. _Dear Muiri,_ he thought as he barely dodged a sword and stabbed him in the gut instead. _I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner,_ he picked up his fallen enemies sword and used duel weapons, _but I am a vampire. I've always known since I was bitten a couple days prior._ He swung his swords and slashing at a man wielding a warhammer. _I left to Dawnstar to seek help from a friend, but there is no help. There is no cure. I am forever a vampire and I understand if you never want to see me again. I just wish that we could've been more than friends._ He then screamed in pain as a blot struck him in the leg, making him fall back on the cold snow. _Sincerely, Ryvren,_ His swords were at his sides as he was clenching his bleeding leg with a steel bolt lodged in it as he was looking up at a man with his eyes peering through his helmet.

The man brought the tip of his sword to the vampire's throat, telling him that his end was near.

The Dunmer knew it was, too, as he slowly released his wounded leg and relaxed as the white snow was being dyed with crimson blood. Ryvren said nothing as the man placed the tip over his heart and gently pushed, forcing the vampire to lean back in the numbing snow, his freezing and harsh grave.

"I think he wants to die," a man commented.

Ryvren knew that he didn't want to die, but he knew that he could not fight nor run. If he knew that they were stronger than he thought, he would have flee for sure. But right now, death was the only thing that he could allow.

His executioner gripped the sword with both hands, and raised the blade vertically, over the vampire's heart.

The vampiric elf just looked him the eyes, not wanting to fear or weakness as he knew that if his heart had a beat, it would be slamming against his chest. At least his beating heart was not mocking him of what was to come. He was already dead.

"Stop!" A woman called, making them all raise their heads and the sight made Ryvren's eyes grow wide.

Keira.

"Release him," the Nordic Listener ordered.

"He is a vampire," the man growled as he relaxed his grip on his weapon. "He needs to die."

"Do you dare to question the Harbinger of the Companions?"

"I don't care who you are. We are of the Dawnguard!" He shouted at her.

"Once more: Release him. I'll even pay you to spare his life."

"Give me one reason, woman."

"He is a friend and a Shield-Brother. Did I also mention that we are both of the Dark Brotherhood as I am the Listener?" The elf could tell that the woman was hoping that would work

"You kept a vampire?" He asked, ignoring her statements.

"As I said, he is a friend and also a Companion and Dark Brother. You kill him, you will create a war between both sides."

"What made you get here just in time?" He growled.

"A letter of his state. I was aware of his dark change and I was away for a period of time, not knowing of that was happening. I just happened to be coming to see him and good thing I did." All of it was the truth.

He turned to his partners, gave them a nod, and they walked between the woman and the vampire with weapons drawn. "You try anything, they'll cut you down, unless you walk away."

Ryvren just looked at her as he felt the loss of blood getting to him, trying to tell her to walk away. His life was not worth it. She had a husband and was a leader of two organizations, so to speak. She had more reasons and him, well, he was just a vampire and was soon to be forgotten after his death.

Keira then heavily sighed. "Then allow me to put him out of his misery. He is an honored warrior and assassin and should die as such. Not as a vampire."

Ryvren tried to smile graciously at her words, but however he could not.

"Then we'll watch and see if you will actually kill him."

Keira narrowed her eyes at him angrily. "I refuse to have my Brother's death have an audience! If you must have his death supervised, then I suggest have one of your men follow, otherwise, I'll fight."

Why is she doing this?

To the vampire's surprise, the man sheathed his sword, and order a man to follow the two as Keria hurried to Ryvren's side and helped him to his feet as he hissed in pain from the steel bolt. She swung his arm around her neck for support as she began to lead him away farther from the city with the man following.

"Why are you doing this?" He hissed. "What would be the difference? Honor? It would be easier dying with a sword in the chest than hopping on one foot while using the Listener as a crutch to a different spot, _then_ having a sword in the chest," he remarked bitterly. It was the truth. She could've just killed him there. Even if they tried to run, he wouldn't get away do to his wounded leg.

"Will you stop?" She hissed back as they were nearing a Nordic ruin and they stepped inside. She gently laid him down with him leaning against a wall.

"Even if you did kill him," he said quietly. "You still have-"

"Quiet," she ordered as the Dawngaird soldier was nearing by the sound of his steps over the bitter wind howling through the stone.

"Alright," he said coldly as he crossed his arms, stepping into the ruin. "Get on with it."

Keira turned to the elf, giving him a knowing look in her blue eyes.

"Just kill me," he whispered as he felt delirious from the loss of blood. "It'll be quicker and easier." He then smirked bitterly as his eyes became heavy. "Just write a letter of inheritance to Muiri for 200 gold. Just so she knows that I had feelings for her in the end." His head began to feel light just as he heard swords began to clash against each other, then everything went black and silent.


	15. Chapter 14

Ryvren slowly opened his eyes to bluryness. It reminded him when he crawled of out of the freezing ocean on to the shore, but his life wasn't n the line. At least not anymore. But he's alive? He's still alive? How though? Why? How did he live? He shouldn't even be here. He should be frozen out in the snow away from the city. In the Nordic ruin. No. Even before that ruin. Before the Listener showed. He should've been executed by the Dawngaurd. He blinked, focusing his vision.

"Hi," a soft voice spoke.

He looked up and found Keira dressed in her red and black armor smiling sadly at him as she walked in the room, grabbed a chair from the desk, and placed it facing the bed.

He just watched her with confusion.

"Surprised to still be alive? You nearly died of blood loss. Salith-ei healed you," she explained as she sat down.

"How did you fight them?" He managed to ask. "They were in strong armor and-"

"One: I sent a member of the Brotherhood to stall them while I went to get the rest and two: Do you know why you couldn't beat them as easily as you could?"

He looked away and thought about it, but his mind was still fuzzy.

Keira sighed in annoyance. "You're a vampire, Ryvren. You weaken during the day."

The wounded Dunmer looked at her as his memory was returning. "Exactly. I'm a vampire. They were after _me_."

The woman took a deep breath and looked at him with sympathy. "You fell in love, didn't you?" Well, that was a sudden question.

He just looked at her. How did she know? She was gone during that time.

"Babette told me about the letters you always wrote and you told me to write an inheritance to Muiri if you died. It's Muiri, isn't?"

He doesn't even remember saying that just before he blacked out, but he knew he did. "She'd hate me," he sighed as he looked up at the stoned ceiling. "She'd be scared of me. A vampire for a lover." He smirked bitterly at that thought, but it didn't last long. "I was on my way to Markath to personally tell her, but instead I nearly got killed for it."

Keira just looked at him sympathetically. "I want you to go to her, Ryvren, and tell her. I told Athis the truth, now you must do the same to Muiri."

He smirked at her, knowing that she was right. "He still loves you, doesn't he?"

She smiled embarrassingly as she slightly turned away. "Yes."

He chuckled as he looked back at the ceiling. "I knew it. I'll go and tell her. Like I said, that was my original plan." He then frowned. "But I can't walk." He felt numb in his body, but he knew that having a steel bolt to the thigh was not going to have a good outcome.

Keira smiled hopefulness at him. "Salith-ei says that you will walk in a week if not less."

He turned to her. "In the meantime?"

"You lay in bed." She then stood up and picked the chair up to put it back in its place.

"What about Muiri? I can't let her wait." He called as he sat up in confusion.

She smiled turned and smiled at him as she handed him a book, paper, and quill, placing the inkwell on the nightstand beside his bed. "You can always write to her." Then she walked out, leaving the smirking Dunmer in bed as he was thinking about the Breten and for some reason, life never seemed so good. He took the quill and began to write about his wound, telling her that he was going to return later than he thought and he had something to tell her in person.

* * *

A week had finally past and Ryvren could finally walk just as good he did before, just with nerve damage in his thigh and some in his lower leg, other than that, he was fine and was ready to travel to Markarth, this time, at night. Babette placed some stamina potions in his satchel just in case. Just as he was about to leave, he turned to the Listener with a smile. "By the way, you never told me who this member of the Brotherhood who stalled the Dawngaurd was."

Keira smiled as a portal of white and blue appeared at the base of the stone steps and a see-through, blue ghost walked out as the portal disappeared, dressed in the Dark Brotherhood outfit as Cicero ran up to him with a grin. "Ryvren," Keira said with a smile, "meet Lucien LaChance, the spectral assassin. Lucien, Ryvren."

"Honored, Brother," the spirit said in a deep voice with his white eyes glowing.

"Well," he said with a smirk, looking at the ghost. "Now I've seen everything." He then turned back to Keira as Cicero was still grinning at the ghost, who- if had eyes- would just roll them. "I'm on my way. I don't know when I'll be back. Good-bye. Maybe we'll meet again, Lucien." With that, he turned away and began to walk with a lighter heart. He was never good a good-byes either.

* * *

When he arrived to Markarth, it was noon, and he made a beeline for the Hag's Cure as people were giving him odd looks, but he just ignored them. When he came to the bronze door, he took a deep breath. This was it. The moment of truth. He opened the door, and stepped inside as the door fell closed. Muiri then raised her head from setting up potions on the counter, and immediately her eyes grew wide and she raced to him and into his arms. "Thank the gods, you're okay."

Ryvren frowned sadly at those words as he wrapped his arms around her. "Muiri," he said gently as he placed his hands on her shoulders, making her look up into his glowing eyes. "I have to tell you something. I am not okay. I kept something from you that I should have told you about right away."

"Yes, you said you wanted to tell me something personally, but you were wounded." Worry was in her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

He took a deep breath and said, "I am a vampire. I went to Dawnstar to speak to someone I knew about vampirism-" he didn't want to tell about Babette, the vampiric child- "and there was nothing I could do. Yes, I did try to avoid your questions, but when I got your last letter, I didn't know how to respond and then I was wounded by vampire hunters when I was going to return to Markarth a week ago, and I wanted to tell you personally, so-"

A smile and a giggle escaped her lips.

His looked at her like she was the crazy one. How could she laugh? He was telling her the whole truth and she was giggling?

"Ryvren," she said with humor in her brown eyes as she looked at him. "It's okay. I just would've liked for you to tell me earlier, but I knew that you were scared by the way you left." She looked down as he was playing with the strings on his tunic on his chest. "I thought that you were just trying to write letters to keep us apart and that your words were lies about everything you said about me." She looked up at him with worry. "I even thought that one day I wouldn't get a letter and never hear from you again."

"As if I died," he replied emotionlessly as he just looked her in the eyes. How much he missed their exotic brown.

"As if you never wanted to speak again and that you were just playing with my emotions." Heartache was in her voice.

The Dunmer smirked sadly at those words as he ran his thumb over her chin. "I meant all those words with my every ounce of my heart," he replied truthfully. He would tell her how he couldn't wait to see her and how he would take her all over Skyrim and oh, how he bit his tongue at saying that he wanted to be more than friends. Because of those letters, he was keeping the connection alive.

"I don't care if you're a vampire," she said as he hugged him and rested her head on his chest with his arms around her. "I want to be with you. And I want to see the land with you like you said you would. I want to be by your side as I was- even through letters."

He smirked and admitted, "Your letters always did make my day."

"As did yours."

For once in a long time, joy entered his heart. "So you will allow yourself to be with a vampire?"

She looked up at him. "Yes."

For once in a long time, love entered his heart as he placed a hand on the back of her neck as he leaned forward and kissed her lips lovingly. He had her. Even through the long two weeks of secrets, she still accepted him, but he wondered how long it was going to last. He shoved the thought from his head. She knew he was an assassin and she knew that he was a vampire and she still stayed by his side, even when she was not physically there.

When the kiss ended, Muiri looked up at him with love in her eyes."It feels that... even though we only met, but after all those letters, I can trust you. And you are the one that people and men fear as vampire and assassin of the Dark Brotherhood. And I may be in love with you."

"Because you can trust me, Muiri," he replied with a smooth voice as he looked at her with love. "But that doesn't mean that we have to rush into things. We can still start from where we left off."

She smiled as she gave a small nods. "I'd like that."

He smirked happily. "Then I'll meet you at the inn for a dinner?"

The Breten giggled. "Sounds wonderful."

He grinned as he began to back out of the shop. "Great. I'll see you there at eight."

"Sure."

"Bye." With that, he walked out with a grin on his face the day never seemed so brighter. When he returned home, he just went to the bookshelves, grabbed book, sat in a chair and began to read with a grin on his face, still thinking about Muiri. Life was finally looking up after all this time and soon, she'll be his, and he'll be the happiest elf alive as for once, he was in peace and quiet.


	16. Epilogue

Seven months had past since Ryvren and Muiri got together and the elf had never been happier. Especially when he found the small Breten woman lying in bed of Vlindrel Hall with the blankets to her chest with her arm behind her head and the other just resting over the covers, with love in her eyes, making him smirk as he removed his shirt and boots. The Dunmer then leaned over to her with love in his heart, then he noticed something gold around her neck. He looked at the necklace with curiosity as he gently pulled the chain, revealing the Amulet of Mara in his hand. He knew about the Nordic traditions of marriage. "You are wishing of marriage?" He asked neutrally, looking at the golden amulet with wonder.

Muiri sat up to face him, revealing her bare, naturally tan body as she got near him. "If you'll have me," she answered quietly.

Ryvren sat up on his knees, still holding the amulet as a strange feeling was in his heart. Marriage was never for him, but now he was at the test. "I'll always want you," he replied, looking her in her eyes, telling the full truth. How he just wanted to claim her. He never seen her like this and she was certainly beautiful.

The human woman sat on her knees, making her eye level to his chest.

He had gotten used to having a woman being shorter than him. Female elves were almost the same height as the men.

"Then is that an agreement?" She asked as she placed her hands over his bare chest, as she gently ran a couple of fingers over his heart.

He slowly placed his hands on her lower back, which was smooth to the touch as he rested his forehead on hers and both closed their eyes. "Yes, my love," he whispered as he then gently opened his eyes and removed the necklace from her neck and placed it on the nightstand, turning back to her and gently kissed her neck. "It is more than an agreement. You'll be my wife. Muiri Serleth." He never told anyone his last name, but her, just for his own odd reasons, and she knew it.

"Ryvren," she whispered as he held her closer, kissing her shoulder. "Even if I can't bare you any children?"

He knew that was always her concern since he was an elf and she was a human, but it never bothered him. "All I need is you," he said softly. "The key to my sanity." He then kissed her lips passionately as no questions were no longer asked and thoughts were shoved away and the two embraced love all night long and eventually fell asleep in each other's arms.

A month later, the marriage occurred and the were officially husband and wife. Ryvren no longer was worried about losing the love of his life as she was no longer feared of any sort of betrayal. Ten years later, the two adopted kids: Francis, a young boy in the orphanage of Riften, and Lucia, a young girl leaving in the inn of Whiterun. The elf wasn't too keen on the idea, but quickly fell in love with the two as his own. And life could never get better for a vampire.


End file.
